The present invention relates to user interactive computer supported display technology and particularly to display systems for controlling the timing of presentations comprised of a sequence of presentation segments.
The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. As a result of these changes, it seems as if virtually all aspects of human endeavor in the industrialized world requires human-computer interfaces. There is a need to make computer directed activities accessible to many people who were, until recently, computer indifferent. There are great numbers of potential users highly skilled in a variety of technological, business and educational fields who use computers only to the extent absolutely necessary. Thus, they use computers for word processing and Internet access but are resistant to other significant functions. These users are resistant because they consider the other computer controlled functions not user friendly, i.e. the applications are not intuitive or dynamic. The functions require an initial investment of time in the learning curve and must be continually used or they will be easily forgotten. Computer controlled or computer aided presentations is one such category of computer functions. These applications, such as Powerpoint(trademark), discussed in great detail in the text, Using Microsoft(trademark) Powerpoint(trademark)97, by N. Stevenson et al., published by Que, Indianapolis, Ind., 1997, have provided excellent presentation tools to teachers and academic lecturers who regularly make such presentations. On the other hand, other potential users in the business and technological field who make presentations less frequently have shown a resistance to such presentation applications because of a real or perceived impression that the applications are not intuitive or dynamic enough for the casual or less regular user.
The present invention provides an implementation which makes the giving of computer controlled or computer aided presentations more intuitive and dynamic, even to the casual user. The implementation is directed to the pacing of presentations made up of a plurality of presentation segments and comprises the combination of means for assigning a portion of a total presentation time for each of said plurality of presentation segments; means for displaying the time assigned to each of said presentation segments; means enabling an interactive user to change, during the presentation of a segment, the time assigned to the segment being presented; and means responsive to a change in said time assigned to a sequential segment for dynamically reapportioning remaining total time among the subsequent sequential presentation segments.
The invention preferably also includes means for displaying the reapportioned times for said subsequent sequential presentation segments. There may also be means, responsive to the change in the time, for dynamically eliminating one of said sequential segments.
According to one aspect of the present invention, each of said presentation segments is a presentation of an individual slide. This aspect also may include the means responsive to the change in the time for dynamically eliminating one of said sequential slides.
In slide presentations, there may be means for displaying the reapportioned times for the subsequent sequential individual slides including means for displaying a screen including miniaturizations of each of the subsequent sequential individual slides together with means for the displaying of the reapportioned time for each slide adjacent to each slide.